


Child of Void, Tainted Red

by SolMechanica



Series: Tainted [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Headcanon, Lots of it, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Embrace the Void Ending (Hollow Knight), updates when I feel like it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28521447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolMechanica/pseuds/SolMechanica
Summary: The Radiance is dead, torn to shreds and dragged into the Abyss. The vessels have been freed from their void-bound prison, and Hallownest can begin healing. But what happens when forces from the time of Hallownest's prime long thought dead return to take revenge upon the long-forgotten kingdom?---------------This is my first attempt at a fic, enjoy!
Series: Tainted [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089302
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. Dark Abyss Part 1

The sound of splintering chitin stirs them awake. Their newly-formed eyes open to an oppressive darkness. As their senses begin to expand, the darkness seems to press back, ever-present as the being continues to awake within their new existence. They feel something coalesce around them and a strange sensation around their …face? Yes, that’s it. New sensations begin to emerge, arms, hands, legs begin to form, and that ever present darkness presses back against them. They can feel it now, the darkness feels cold, yet familiar, like the chitin that now comprises their body has been forged directly from it.They begin to push back, as if on instinct, against that darkness. Push, Push, PUSH! They can feel it faltering, splintering breaking. One final push and the darkness gives way, throwing them into the world

The figure collapses to the floor out of a shiny black black egg, liquid darkness pouring over and pooling beneath them. Two pairs of two horns crown a bone-white mask upon their head, their jet-black body draped in a dark maroon cloak. They tentatively move their unfamiliar limbs, accustoming themselves with the onslaught of new sensations. Opening their vision, they take in their new surroundings. Near-darkness still blinds them, their eyes only used to the crushing darkness of their egg. They see that the floor they lay on is covered, almost completely, in strange white fragments, and they now feel the sharp prods of the fragments they are laying on. They reposition themselves, attempting to push themselves off the ground, but the unfamiliarity of their body causes them to fall in another heap. They try again, now placing their legs beneath them, managing to raise themselves enough to stand, wobbling on unsteady legs.

Their senses expand further, as they begin to feel more of their surroundings. They can hear the small crunch of the strange fragments beneath them as they shift in an attempt to move forward, only to fall, once again, to the floor. As the figure finally understands how their body functions, they can feel a pull, almost magnetic; something is calling to them. Looking up, they notice a faint glow far in the air above them, and a white-masked figure falling toward them.

The new figure lands with a crash, causing them to fall to the floor. As they stood, the figure seemed to have disappeared, and now there were more fragments on the pile, dripping that liquid darkness. 

The pull is stronger now, too strong to ignore, even though they weren’t ignoring it. That faint glow overhead seemingly the source. They begin to notice platforms, jutting from the walls of the strange cavern they are in. As they begin making their way toward them, another figure crashes before them. This time, they see more of the remnants of the fallen figure, their mask crowned by two horns pointing outwards, and their dark brown cloak. But they pressed on, undisturbed by their new discovery. They had to make it to that pale glow. They NEEDED to.

They began to ascend the platforms toward the pale glow, leaping and clambering up platform by platform, desire to reach that pale glow filling them with each platform ascended, until another figure came crashing down. The figure hit the edge of the platform they currently stand on, and in the split second before the figure vanished below them, they noticed the figures body: black like ink, like.... The thought is lost as soon as it appears, and they continue their ascent. 

As they reach ever higher heights, the floor of strange fragments below fades away and the pull of the pale glow above grows ever stronger. Desire to reach their far-off goal turns to desperation, and in an attempt to reach the next platform, their foot slips on the smooth, rocky platform. As they begin to plummet, they reach out in desperation. NO, NO, they cannot fail now that they are so close. As their mind races, they begin to notice they have stopped falling, and have begun steadily rising toward the edge of the next platform, propelled by some unknown force. As they clamber onto the platform, they look behind them to see a pair of brilliant white wings splayed out behind them, with a glow almost like the pale glow above them they so desperately crave to reach. Before they can finish musing over their new wings, another figure crashes before them. Finally, the dots begin to connect in their mind. The mask, the cloak, the body composed of darkness. These figures are like them, all seemingly chasing the same goal, that pale glow above them. But this one failed, falling to their demise, and so they leave the failure behind. 

Their new wings are unfamiliar, and they can only fly so far, so they resort to flying between the platforms. They can physically feel the pull of their goal now, guiding them ever higher. They can see now, the platform from which the pale glow emanates. They are so close, platform by platform they continue to ascend, nearly there, nearly there!

They stand, two platforms from the end and stop. Above them they can see one of their kind, no, their kin, their...sibling, and another figure. Seven horns, almost like a crown, adorn the figure’s head. A flowing, silvery crobe hides any indication of a body, and the light glinting off of it pales in comparison to the brilliant glow they emit like a beacon, beckoning him higher. 

The figure holds his hand outstretched as their sibling approaches them. With an almost skip to their step, their sibling walks up to the figure and takes his hand. They catch a glint of something in the radiant figure’s eyes as their other hand emerges from their robe with a silvery dagger, planting it firmly in their siblings chest, before shoving their sibling off the side of the ledge

They are stunned. This figure has lured them up here, to kill them? Why? Was he....?

The final pieces fall into place. This person was looking for something, all of their other siblings who they had seen falling had failed, they did not have what he wanted. Did...they have what he wanted? Even if he did, did he deserve to have it? After.... Oh no, the fragments, the masks, how many of their siblings did he murder? How many did he cast back into their place of birth after they had failed his test. No, they did not deserve what he had, even if he didnt have it

The pale figure notices them now. They don't care, if they have what he wants, he won’t get it, and he will make him know it. They jumped backwards off the platform they were standing on and rocketed toward the sibling he had cast off

Little did they know, the Pale King cared little for the defiant vessel he encountered that day. One less of his children he had to kill himself.


	2. Dark Abyss Part 2

For a while there was nothing but the darkness surrounding them. The pale glow still returned. Every so often they would feel the tug of the presence far above, but they paid no mind to it. Each time they heard their siblings, desperate to reach that glow above, elsewhere in the caverns: emerging, ascending, crashing. They paid no mind to them, at first; they were alive, that's what mattered to them. Alive...That’s funny. Where did they learn that word? It seemed to them that every time that glow returned, and that pull on their psyche began again, they could feel it opening parts of their mind more and more.

With only the sibling they had saved sitting with them, all they could do was think. It was a strange sensation, thinking. It had only just clicked for them, two platforms from that figure, what thinking was. Now it felt as natural as walking. So that's what they did, think. And they thought of the only thing they could: the sibling that lay before them, and that strange figure

Who was that glowing figure far above? What did it want with them? Why did it hold out its hand like that, only to throw their sibling back? Did it hate them? Were they not enough? It must have wanted something from them… No, it did not want THEM to have something. But they took its hand. It must have wanted them to take it. Maybe it did not want them to take his hand, for if they did, they knew what it meant. They thought… Like me.

Their own thoughts crush them under their meaning. Their entire act of defiance was exactly what the pale figure did not want? Their whole reasoning for disobeying the pull of the pale glow was, in the end, worthless? Their siblings still climb, again and again, only to fall, and die. Their acts have done nothing to stop the figure killing their siblings.

But how would they stop the pale figure? His mere presence exudes power. They don't think they can even touch him. If they cannot stop the pale figure from casting his siblings back into the darkness, then perhaps they can stop them from making the climb in the first place, and if they cannot do that, then they will save the ones who do fall. But the next time that pale figure does come around, something unexpected happens.

They can feel the figure approaching that far off ledge even before its glow appears. And for the first time, they bear witness to the emergence of one of their siblings. Two of their siblings, it seems. The first bears two horns, with a small cleft near the middle of each horn, and a dark, almost black-green cloak. Shortly after the first, the second comes wriggling up through the mass of shattered shells. This one also bears two horns, and its cloak is a dark gray. The two siblings are hot on each other’s tails, moving quick enough to avoid their attempts to stop them. Before they can begin to fly up after them, an image flashes in their mind. It is of one of the siblings, desperately clambering after the other, but they falter, falling a few feet onto a lower platform, while the other sibling races ever farther away. The siblings are too far away to reach in time now; they hope they can find the shells.

Their musings are cut short by another image. The grey-cloaked sibling is only a few platforms from the top, any mistake now would careen them to their death. At the last jump, the sibling missed the jump, barely able to cling to the edge of the top, but their grip is failing. They can see the pale figure , arm outstretched to the sibling that made it. But the sibling does not take it, instead staring blankly at the figure. In the pale figures eyes they see a glint almost, one of hope. The pale figure then beckons the sibling to follow him out of the darkness. They can feel the hanging sibling pleading with the sibling above to save them, to help them up, but the other sibling pays them no attention, blankly staring as they exit through the great oval opening. Until, in one moment the sibling stops, turning its head ever so slightly toward the sibling hanging on to the edge, before continuing to follow the pale figure. Finally , the grip of the other sibling gives out, and they plummet into the infinite depths.

Upon seeing their sibling falling to their death, they immediately take to the air, wings fueled by determination to save them. As they rocket towards their falling sibling they wonder about what they have just seen. The pale figure had chosen one of them, on it deemed worthy, unthinking, pure. But its chosen was not pure, they had the slightest moment of hesitation, the slightest thought about saving their sibling, but they did not. 

When they reach the bottom, sibling safe-in-hand, they notice something. The faintest trickle of light that had always entered from above from that great opening was gone. The door was closed, the great black abyss was sealed. They were trapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short one cause the next ones a biggie


	3. Dark Abyss Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long delay. I just recently moved into Uni and my main computer is out of commission until I get a power cord (mail isn't allowed during the first two weeks of quarantine)

They had amassed a sizable group of siblings now. The largest of them had three horns, two on one side, and one on the other. Another had four stubby horns on the side of their mask. A trio of siblings from the same hatch each with a different set of horns. They had all gathered together, the company of others making the endless darkness just that bit more bearable. After a while, alongside the first sibling they saved, they began to explore the massive cavern they were trapped in. Crawling over the mountain of broken masks, they eventually came upon a vast sea of blackness. It was almost alluring, radiating the same feeling of comfort as what they felt inside their egg. This must be where they came from. 

Suddenly, they felt the ground shake, the mountain of masks shifting as a few of them began to roll down. A large tentacle of blackness surged out of the sea of void, thrashing out at anything near it, smashing broken masks and slamming into the two of them, throwing them back a few feet and shattering the sibling that had come with them. They could feel a spark of pain and sadness as their sibling, the one they had saved first, shattered on the ground next to them. Just as quickly as it appeared, the tentacle of void retreated back into the sea, and the start of something horrible began. Other siblings began to see other points of thrashing void, a few more falling to their endless fury. Something had changed when the pale figure sealed the abyss. The void became active. Angry. 

The siblings now were huddled together, never straying too far out of fear of the angry darkness, when the first shade appeared. A small bit of void coalesced into a shape reminiscent of a sibling, except it had no legs, and was completely pitch black save for the two glowing eyes on what was once its mask. More and more began to appear, and soon there were more shades than siblings. When one of the siblings cautiously approached one, the shade immediately lashed out, splitting the sibling's mask clean in twain. 

From then on it was a struggle to survive, the rapidly dwindling group of siblings constantly on the move within the cavern to stay out of the way of the angry shades. Some siblings were trailing off of the main group, constantly looking for a way out. Unfortunately, many of those that did perished to the patrolling shades. They had to take action. They pried a metal rod off of the strange structure built next to the great sea of void. They had a weapon now. The shades now were whacked back by Their swings, sloppy at first, but over time they became more adept at dealing with the shades they encountered. The siblings were safe now, more or less. They could start trying to find a way out now that the shades could be kept at bay. Even with the safety of their rod, though, no escape could be found. 

Until one day, when a strange blue glow began to peak out from above. Was it another like The Pale Figure? No it couldn't be, the glow did not draw them in. But the new glow meant they might have a way out. The three-horned one went first to investigate. When they did not return for some time, the four-horned one went up. They never returned either. When only they and the two-horned one were left, they went to see if their siblings had escaped, but they were only met by a door set into the wall of the cavern, with faintly glowing blue vines enshrouding it. They tried everything on the door, but nothing seemed to move it. When they returned to the cavern floor, the two-horned sibling was nowhere to be found. They were, well and truly, trapped and alone. Alone against the anger of their primordial creator. But they kept fighting, driving back the shades with dwindling strength. Finally, before they lost all of their strength, they found an alcove in the wall of the cavern, one they could hide in, one where they did hide in, one that they remained in for a long time. 

All they could do now was think. But thoughts could not come. Their body was sapped of strength, the rod of metal they were using bent and broken beyond usability. So they sat in silence. Their mind is too tired to think, their will is nearly broken, until memories flash once again into their minds. No, not memories. This was happening now. 

It is bright, they are in a place shining with pale white light. A Palace they think, as though the thought was obvious. They see the pale figure before them, though they seem to tower over them in height. He is speaking, though the words cannot be heard clearly. The memory fades. Was that the eyes of the pale figure's chosen? The Pale figure seems to not have noticed their impurity. Although, they could feel the strain the Chosen had felt. They were holding back, trying to hide their impurity. The memory fades. 

Another appears. They are fighting someone, they can feel the reverberation of the clash of nails. Another. They see another person, pale like the Figure, but taller, and more like a... Tree? Yes that's it. Another. They stand before a crowd of people, the Pale Figure is speaking loud, but once again the words cannot be deciphered. Another. They are a part of a parade of sorts. They hear a song. A long drone of strings and a feeling of sadness washing over them, but suppressed once again. They arrive at a temple, within is a larger version of the dark black egg they emerged from. They enter the egg, down a long hallway of blackness, not dissimilar to the abyss, into a chamber within. Inside is a set of chains, four in total. They are bound to them at the shoulders and wrapped tightly around them. As they are hoisted into the air. They can hear the last thoughts of the chosen as the Pale Figure exits. Do not think. Do not speak. Do not hope. Do not... Father? Their vision explodes in golden light. Searing pain racks their form as the vision once again faded from their mind. But they can still feel the pain. The Chosen cries out through the void, and the shades echo its cry, then all falls silent.


End file.
